Blending Times
Blending Times is Ravi Coltrane's fifth album as a band leader, and second for Savoy Records.
Five of the tracks on this album are group improvisations "conceived and directed by Ravi Coltrane" that don't follow a standard time signature or preset measures lengths, reminiscent of free jazz popularized by Ornette Coleman.
The album's final track, "For Turiya", is a eulogy for Alice Coltrane, Ravi's mother, the wife of John Coltrane and a musician in her own right, who died during the album's recording.
Blending Times reached 36 on Billboard's Jazz Albums Chart, his second time making the chart.
Track listing
All compositions by Ravi Coltrane, except where noted- "Shine" – 5:49
- "First Circuit" – 3:45
- "A Still Life" – 6:17
- "Epistrophy" – 7:48
- "Amalgams" – 4:18
- "Narcined" – 4:49
- "One Wheeler Will" – 7:31
- "The Last Circuit" – 4:18
- "Before With After" – 2:49
- "For Turiya" – 9:03
Personnel
;Musicians- Ravi Coltrane – direction, production, tenor saxophone
- Drew Gress – double bass
- Charlie Haden – double bass, guest artist
- Luis Perdomo – piano
- Brandee Younger - harp, guest artist
- Brian Dozoretz - engineer
- Steve Genewick – mixing
- Jimmy Katz - photography
- Joe Marciano – engineer
- Anna M. Sala - associate producer
- Joshua Sherman - executive producer
- Allan Tucker – mastering
Recording notes
- Tracks 2,4,5,8: recorded at Bennett's Studio, Engelwood, NJ, August 14 & 15, 2006
- Track 3: recorded at Systems II, Brooklyn, NY, February 27, 2007
- Tracks 1,6,7,9: recorded at Bennett's Studio, Engelwood, NJ, August 20–22, 2007
- Track 10: recorded at Capitol Studios, Los Angeles, CA, September 17, 2007
- Mixed at Capitol Studios, May, 2008
- Mastered at TuckerSound, NYC, September, 2008